7 Daily Stretches and Exercises for Arthritis Foot Pain

Your foot is a pretty complex piece of machinery. It is home to a network of 28 bones, nearly three dozen joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons, and ligaments that are involved in every step you take, all while bearing the load of your body weight in motion. It is no small task. And if your feet are affected by arthritis pain, the pain and stiffness caused by joint disease may make their job even tougher.

One proven way to help ease symptoms of arthritis in the feet is with exercise, both general full-body exercises (such as walking) as well as specific stretches and moves that target the feet.

Regular exercise and stretching helps increase strength, improve flexibility, and reduce pain in all joints — whether they are in your knee and shoulder, or foot and ankle, says Cary Zinkin, DPM, podiatrist in Florida and spokesperson for the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA).

How Arthritis Affects Your Feet

Arthritis can affect any of the 33 joints in the foot and ankle. As the disease progresses, it may damage cartilage that lines the end of bones and helps cushion joints. Over time, that can lead to pain, stiffness, and deformity in the foot and ankle. The major types of arthritis that affect the foot and ankle are:

Osteoarthritis (OA)

The most common form of arthritis, OA occurs when cartilage in a joint gradually deteriorates from repeated use and stress. Eventually, if the cartilage wears down completely, bone will rub on bone, causing pain and stiffness and difficulty walking. It may also produce painful bony growths in the foot called bone spurs (osteophytes). OA may occur in one foot or both feet. Most often, it affects the big toe, though it can also be found in the midfoot and ankle.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)

In RA, the immune system mistakenly attacks a protective lining in your joint called the synovium, causing it to swell. Over time, this chronic inflammation damages the bone and cartilage and may cause joint deformity and disability. Foot problems caused by RA commonly occur in the forefoot (the ball of the foot, near the toes).

Post-traumatic arthritis

An injury to your foot or ankle — like dislocation or fracture — may damage cartilage, leading to a premature deterioration of the joint. Post-traumatic arthritis may develop years after the initial injury.

Gout

A form of inflammatory arthritis that often targets the joint at the base of the big toe, gout occurs when high blood levels of uric acid, a metabolism byproduct, start to crystallize in the joints, causing pain and swelling that is often sudden and severe. The big toe is infamously affected by gout.

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA)

This type of arthritis commonly affects some people who have psoriasis. It causes inflammation of the joints and entheses, or places where tendons and ligaments connect to bone. In your foot, PsA may lead to sausage-like swelling of the toes (called dactylitis), heel pain (from inflammation of the Achilles tendon), and plantar fasciitis (inflammation of the band of tissue that runs along the bottom of your foot, connecting the toes to the heel bone).

Read more here about how psoriatic arthritis affects your feet.

Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS)

Though axSpA and AS predominantly affects the joints in the spine and pelvis (by causing inflammation), AS may also cause enthesitis symptoms along the back of your heel or in the arch of your foot.

Read more here about how arthritis affects your feet.

How Exercise Helps Foot Pain from Arthritis

People with arthritis who exercise regularly have less pain, more energy, and better day-to-day function, according to the American College of Rheumatology. Exercise can also help burn calories, so you shed extra weight, thus lightening the load on the joints in your feet. Another perk: more endorphins, adds Dr. Zinkin: “When you exercise, it makes you feel good, which helps your mood and state of mind.”

Find comfortable ways to stay active. You don’t have to run or jump if it hurts, say experts. Instead, choose low-impact activities that are less stressful on the joints in your feet, such as swimming, water aerobics, or using an elliptical machine or stationary bike. Aim to work up to 150 minutes of aerobic exercise a week, split up into five- or 10-minute blocks of time if that’s easier on your joints.

Strength exercises are important as well. “As joints become painful to move in arthritis, muscles of the foot become atrophied from lack of use, which subsequently causes more joint and ligament pain,” explains Lance Silverman, MD, orthopedic surgeon in Minnesota and fellow of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). Exercises that help strengthen a group of small muscles in the foot (called intrinsic muscles) can help ease symptoms, he says, as well as improve balance.

Stretching can also help increase range of motion and flexibility and relieve pain.

Precautions to Keep in Mind Before Exercising

If you’re new to exercise, it’s always smart to first talk to your doctor to make sure the exercises are safe and appropriate for you, without exacerbating inflammation or aggravating joint pain. Likewise, if you’ve had surgery on your foot or ankle, get guidance from your doctor or podiatrist on what exercises are safe for you.

More tips to help protect your joints:

Start slowly. Ease your joints into exercise if you haven’t been active for a while, say experts. Push too hard too fast, and you can hurt yourself or worsen joint pain, says Dr. Zinkin. Go easy at first, then increase the length and intensity of your work out as you progress.

Move gently. At the start of every exercise activity, start with slow gentle stretches or a ball massage (by rolling a golf or lacrosse ball under the arch of your foot) to help warm up ligaments and get joints moving though a range of motion, says Dr. Silverman. Don’t force any stretches and keep your movements slow and easy. “People sometimes feel like the more they do, or the harder they push, the better, but that’s not true, especially when you’re first starting out and when you have arthritis,” adds Dr. Zinkin.

Stop if your foot (or anything else) hurts. Take a break when your joints start to ache. If you feel any new joint pain or pain that is sharp, stabbing, or constant, it’s time to stop.

Ice after exercise. Cold constricts blood vessels, decreasing blood flow to the joint to help reduce swelling and inflammation. Just be sure to use towel or other barrier between the ice pack and your skin to prevent irritation. Or try these methods of ice therapy.

Exercises to Ease Arthritis Foot and Ankle Pain

The following stretching and strengthening exercises were recommended by Dr. Zinkin from the APMA, Dr. Silverman from the AAOS, and resources from Ortho Rehab Specialists in Minnesota:

Toe Salutes

Targets muscles within the foot

• Sit in a chair with your feet resting on the floor.
• Lift your big toe, while keeping the other four toes on the floor. Hold for a few seconds; then relax and repeat.
• Lift your four toes together, while keeping the big toe on the floor. Hold for a few seconds; then relax and repeat.

Toe Splaying

Targets muscles within the foot

• Sit in a chair with your feet resting on the floor.
• Spread all your toes apart as far as comfortable. Hold for a few seconds; then relax and repeat.

Toe Squeezing

Targets muscles within the foot

• Place foam toe separators between your toes (such as pedicure toe dividers).
• Squeeze your toes together for a few seconds; then relax and repeat.

Ankle Alphabet

Targets the ankle and joints in the feet

• Sit down so that your feet don’t touch the floor.
• Use your foot to write each letter of the alphabet in the air, leading with your big toe. Keep the movements small, using just your foot and ankle.

Towel Curls

Targets the top of the foot and toes

• Sit with both feet resting flat on the floor.
• Place a small towel on the floor in front of you.
• Grab the center of the towel with your toes and scrunch your toes, curling the towel toward you. Relax, then repeat.

Calf Stretch

Targets the calf, heel, and bottom of foot

• Stand facing a wall, with your hands flat against it.
• Keeping your heels flat on the floor and back straight, slowly lean into the wall—as though you are doing a pushup against the wall, says Dr. Zinkin. “You can start standing very close to the wall; then gradually move a little further away to get a better stretch,” he adds.
• Hold for a few seconds; then relax and repeat.

Toe Extension

Targets the toes, forefoot. and bottom of foot

• Sit in a chair, with your feet resting on the floor.
• Pick one foot up and place it on the opposite thigh. Hold on to your heel with one hand.
• Grab your toes with the other hand and bend them toward your ankle and hold for a few seconds; then back toward your heel and hold for a few seconds. Keep your movement gentle and smooth, advises Dr. Zinkin.
• Repeat.

Not Sure What’s Causing Your Foot Pain?

Check out PainSpot, our pain locator tool. Answer a few simple questions about what hurts and discover possible conditions that could be causing it. Start your PainSpot quiz.

Keep Reading

• 29 Tips from Podiatrists for Managing Arthritis Pain in Your Feet
• This Woman’s Misdiagnosed Plantar Fasciitis Foot Pain Was Actually Psoriatic Arthritis
• Walking with Arthritis: Benefits, Tips, How to Prevent Pain